An ultracold, optically trapped mixture of 87Rb and metastable 4He atoms

A.S. Flores, H.P. Mishra, Wim Vassen, S. Knoop

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

We report on the realization of an ultracold (<25 μK) mixture of rubidium (87Rb) and metastable triplet helium (4He) in an optical dipole trap. Our scheme involves laser cooling in a dual-species magneto-optical trap, simultaneous MW- and RF-induced forced evaporative cooling in a quadrupole magnetic trap, and transfer to a single-beam optical dipole trap. We observe long trapping lifetimes for the doubly spin-stretched spin-state mixture and measure much shorter lifetimes for other spin-state combinations. We discuss prospects for realizing quantum degenerate mixtures of alkali-metal and metastable helium atoms. Graphical abstract
Original languageEnglish
Article number49
Number of pages9
JournalEuropean Physical Journal D. Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics
Volume71
Issue number49
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

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